I'm very lucky to have come across teacher / mentor that is willing to invest in his students (me being one of them) from a place of truth and love. Much of any wisdom that I may touch on has been engendered from my conversations with him.
In a recent conversation, he led me down a path of logic to conclude that all problems/situations have an infinite number of potential solutions that fall under categories of: lose-lose, win-lose, win-win (and perhaps some in-betweeners) etc. In that infinite number of possible solutions, I agreed that their must be a win-win solution present. After conceding that point, I was done for...
If a WIN-WIN solution is possible, then how could I ever choose anything less than behavior that fosters the Win-Win outcome. The only way I would choose anything less is out of laziness, ignorance, fear, or selfishness. I do this often. I settle for an easier route (generally the one that benefits me with the complete ignorance of the other-side's outcome). Well that sucks.
However, this idea is changing the way I approach all problems and I can see massive changes in my life resulting. Win-Win decisions almost always require much more personal sacrifice but, every time I actually do it, I find the outcome is completely worth the trouble. Beside it being the right and ethical thing to do, it ends up being more fruitful.
Simply never settle for anything less than a WIN-WIN for all parties involved.
-the things i think i think